University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Great Plains Quarterly Great Plains Studies, Center for 1992 The Role of Canada's Prairie Provinces In Constitutional and Parliamentary Reform Howard Cody University of Maine Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly Part of the Other International and Area Studies Commons Cody, Howard, "The Role of Canada's Prairie Provinces In Constitutional and Parliamentary Reform" (1992). Great Plains Quarterly. 672. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly/672 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Great Plains Studies, Center for at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Great Plains Quarterly by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. THE ROLE OF CANADA'S PRAIRIE PROVINCES IN CONSTITUTIONAL AND PARLIAMENTARY REFORM HOWARD CODY Canada's federation always has been tentative. I make a necessarily tentative effort to consider This motley collection of French and English the interests and involvement of one of Can­ speakers, multiculturals and Native peoples, ex­ ada's regions, the Prairie Provinces of Alberta, tended across a narrow ribbon of land just above Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, at the present the border with the United States, seems eter­ stage of the ongoing constitutional reform pro­ nally fated to endure tension and uncertainty cess. concerning its national identity and political The search for a new constitutional formula institutions. This uncertainty may now have has assumed a sense of urgency, with a specified reached its highest point in Canada's history. deadline. The Meech Lake accord would have The 1990 failure of the Meech Lake constitu­ entrenched in the constitution the designation tional accord, which was intended to bring of French-speaking Quebec as a "distinct soci­ Quebec voluntarily into Canada's 1982 consti­ ety." Many English Canadians, exemplified by tution, has inspired an unprecedented quest for Newfoundland Premier Clyde Wells, believed new constitutional provisions acceptable to Ca­ that this provision would have assigned to Que­ nadians throughout the country. 1 In this paper bec potentially extensive powers denied to the other provinces. Accordingly the Meech Lake accord was widely unpopular in English Canada and remains so. As the June 1990 deadline for unanimous provincial legislative ratification ap­ proached, the Newfoundland and Manitoba legislatures refused their assent. In reaction Quebec's government has proposed to stage a An associate professor of political science at the referendum on political sovereignty by late Oc­ University of Maine, Howard Cody has published tober 1992 unless English Canada offers by that articles on Canadian federalism and policymaking time an acceptable formula for a redesigned fed­ in journals in Canada, the United States, Great eration. Quebec expects considerably strength­ Britain, and Australia. ened powers in any new federation; its [GPQ 12 (Summer 1992): 147-1551 government already has identified twenty-two 147 148 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, SUMMER 1992 desired new exclusive jurisdictions as its nego­ growth or actual economic shrinkage even be­ tiating position. Prime Minister Brian Mulro­ fore the recession" in the two provinces. It warns ney's government presented its own twenty-eight that "without major economic retooling, Man­ point bargaining position in September 1991. itoba and Saskatchewan ... may soon become Among other provisions it would enhance fed­ little more than hapless adjuncts to the (also eral control over Canada's economic union but distressed) U.S. regions of the northern plains."4 allow provinces to negotiate with Ottawa greater In this paper I have utilized interviews with autonomy over culture and other fields. Inev­ members of Canada's House of Commons (MPs) itably a redesigned federation would greatly af­ to address these issues. I interviewed eighteen fect all of Canada, not simply Quebec or the Prairie MPs in their Ottawa offices in May 1991 Quebec-Ottawa relationship. All segments of to ascertain their perspectives on their own pro­ Canadian society and all regions of the country vincial and regional interests in the looming must recognize and advance their interests in constitutional talks. I also asked respondents for the constitutional reform process. 2 their suggestions and preferences for constitu­ At this juncture the stakes for the Prairies tional change and parliamentary reform. Eight are especially high. The region occupies the vast of the respondents come from Alberta, six are and often unforgiving territory between pros­ Manitobans, and four represent Saskatchewan perous Pacific Rim-oriented British Columbia constituencies. By party the respondents in­ and industrialized "fat-cat" Ontario. Most prai­ clude eight Progressive Conservatives (Prime rie Canadians desire a well-financed and inter­ Minister Brian Mulroney's party), five New nationally credible federal government in Democrats (social democratic party), three Lib­ Ottawa. Only a respected Canada can market erals, one Reform (right-wing western party) prairie grain, potash, and oil and supply "de­ and one Independent. ficiency" payments and other supports that may be necessitated by poor world grain markets or THE PRAIRIES IN CANADA TODAY low prices. At the same time, the thinly pop­ ulated Prairies remain alienated from the distant Canada is a highly regionalized country. and majoritarian-oriented federal government Canada's existing Senate, party caucuses in the and feel themselves powerless to affect national House of Commons, some proposed formulas policymaking allegedly dominated for more than for constitutional amendments and Senate re­ a century by the huge central provinces of On­ form, and statistical information, are all orga­ tario and Quebec. 3 Thus, prairie Canadians wish nized on the basis of four or five regions. Atlantic to keep a united Canada with a strong federal Canada, Quebec, Ontario, and the West (or, government while they simultaneously enhance sometimes, the Prairie Provinces and British prairie influence in national politics. This is a Columbia separately) all enjoy regional status. formidable dual assignment. This preoccupation with regional categories Complicating the Prairies' approach to the works against the Prairies. Western Canada is constitutional crisis is western Canada's grow­ not nearly as homogenous as the four uniformly ing economic bifurcation. Alberta and British poor Atlantic provinces, much less the region­ Columbia become steadily wealthier while provinces of Quebec and Ontario. Moreover, Manitoba and Saskatchewan stagnate. Statis­ there remains the disputed British Columbia tics Canada reports that between 1970 and 1989 perception that the Pacific province should be Alberta's share of Canada's gross domestic prod­ classified as a fifth region of its own. British uct rose faster than any other province's, while Columbia's semi-apartness enhances the West's Manitoba's and Saskatchewan's shares declined diversity and further impairs the coherence of faster than any other province's. A recent study western contributions to national political life. of Manitoba and Saskatchewan urban centers Complicating this matter still further is the blames federal government policies for "no growing belief in Alberta that the province CANADA'S REFORM 149 should forsake its prairie neighbors to forge an inces cannot afford, thereby luring meat pack­ alliance with British Columbia in its dealings ing plants elsewhere in the West to move to with federal authorities. 5 Alberta. The same respondent admitted that Even when we consider British Columbia a the Conservative Party's western regional cau­ separate region, the three Prairie Provinces di­ cus in Parliament finds it "hard to function" verge sharply in their economic and political under these circumstances. interests and especially in their fiscal relation­ Despite, or perhaps because of, the percep­ ships with Ottawa. Alberta is Canada's wealth­ tion that the Prairies are "simply growing apart," iest province in respect to its independent fiscal Winnipeg Liberal MP Lloyd Axworthy recently capacity. It enjoys a much greater ability to raise appealed for the Prairie Provinces to coordinate revenues from its own sources (mostly oil and their policies respecting grain pools, telecom­ natural gas) than does any other province. Man­ munications systems, energy planning, the en­ itoba, most of whose residents live in econom­ vironment, and higher education. Such ically stagnant Winnipeg, falls well into the cooperation could enhance efficiency, increase "have-not" category of provinces that receive bargaining power in constitutional and other substantial "equalization" benefits from Ottawa national policymaking, and improve competi­ to help them to provide services near national tiveness in international trade. Presumably the average levels. Grain and potash exporting Sas­ region could benefit from enhanced interna­ katchewan requires protection from the vagaries tional credibility, especially in the struggle of weather and markets as well as equalization against the European Community's agricultural benefits. Until recently the "boom or bust" cen­ subsidies. (On the other hand, a rural Saskatch­ tral Prairies occasionally enjoyed high incomes ewan respondent observed that the greatest ob­ from grain sales, but the near collapse of over­ stacle